In general, a circuit breaker operates to engage and disengage a selected branch electrical circuit from an electrical power supply. The circuit breaker provides current interruption thereby providing protection to the electrical circuit from continuous over-current conditions and high-current transients due, for example, to electrical short circuits. Such circuit breakers operate by separating a pair of internal electrical contacts contained within a housing of the circuit breaker. Typically, one electrical contact is stationary while the other is movable and may be coupled to a moveable contact arm.
In some embodiments, so-called “electronic circuit breakers” may include a neutral conductor pigtail used to connect to a neutral (e.g., to a neutral bar) in a load center. Arc faults Circuit Breakers (AFCIs) include such a wound neutral conductor pigtail, for example.
Today, AFCI breakers are shipped with long curled wire neutral conductors. The industry term used to describe the wired conductors is “pig-tail”. The pig-tail to neutral connection is made for AFCI's to detect line-to-neutral or line-to-ground arc faults. The pig-tail to neutral bar connection is accomplished by use of a screw driven to a specified torque.
In existing electronic circuit breakers 100 as shown in FIG. 1, the wound wire pigtail 104 from the exit from the housing 102 may have a total length of about 30 cm or more. Prior to installation, the installer straightens the pigtail, measures the length of neutral pigtail needed for the particular installation, cuts the pigtail to the desired length, and then strips the end thereof. The installer must then further bend and arrange the neutral wire to make a connection to the neutral bar socket of a neutral bar. As should be apparent, such installation is very time consuming and therefore expensive.
In another approach, the connection to the neutral bar may be made by using a “plug-on” connection on the line side of the circuit breaker to a neutral bar or strap. However, although the plug-on connection is less labor intensive than using a coiled pig-tail to make the neutral connection, the plug-on connection may suffer from a drawback that sometimes it may become detached from the neutral rail.
Thus, electronic circuit breaker designs and assemblies configured to provide lower installation costs and/or installation time are desired.